Tuesday, October 23, 2012

We made a flyin' trip to northern Illinois over the weekend,
so we could attend my cousin's daughter's wedding.It was a working weekend for me since I was
taking the pictures, but it was fun to see family and be a part of such a fun
celebration.If you've read this blog
for any amount of time, ya'll know daddy's side of the family is large.Really large.Kind of like the Kennedy's without any of the money.And several of my cousins and a few aunts and
uncles live just south of Chicago in Manteno, Kankakee, Bradlee and New Lennox.They may be in a few other burgs up there,
too but there are so many of my kin I kind of lose track of where everyone
is.Poor Hubby.Even after 24 years, he stills needs a chart
to figure out who's who.

We traveled to Manteno, driving up early Friday so I'd have
time to check out the wedding and reception sites before the rehearsal and to
get checked into our hotel.Mama and
daddy rode with us since they're all about a road trip to see family,
especially if they can get chauffeured everywhere. It was also a chance for us to see the town we
lived in during the early part of mama and daddy's marriage.We lived in Manteno until I was five.Daddy worked at the arsenal in Joliet, and we
lived in a small upstairs apartment on the main drag in Manteno, right across
from the rail station.On weekends, mama
and I often road the train south to southern Illinois where grandpa and grandma
picked us up at the train station for a short visit.I have vague memories of those train
rides.It seemed like such a big
adventure then.It was $6 a ticket,
roundtrip, and they didn't charge for me.Which was a good thing because mama and daddy had no money back
then.In fact, a lack of money is what
sent them north when I was a baby.I
didn't know the full story about that decision until we were talking on the
drive north Friday.

Daddy was a mechanic in the tiny town where we lived.I was a baby, and mama had quit her nursing
job to stay home with me.Daddy made $55
a week, and as mama put it, they were slidin' in the hole fast.Daddy asked for a raise.His boss grandly offered him $5 a week
more.Daddy said that wouldn't work for
him and asked for his final check.He
walked out the door, went home to mama and told her to pack.They were going north where he heard there
were jobs.That was a Saturday.They left on Sunday.THE NEXT DAY.They stayed with my aunt and
uncle in Manteno until they could find a place to live and daddy landed a
job.For the next few years, we lived in
that small town until shortly after I started kindergarten.Work took us home to southern Illinois in
1969, where I grew up along with SuperCop, who was born in Manteno right before
we moved south and Handy Man who came along later.

My memories of Manteno are of the train station, our second
floor apartment (which is still there), the grocery store where I asked the
owner to bring me a baby brother just like he shipped in baby chickens and the
beauty shop where mama got her hair done and I got treated to a Dr. Pepper
andHostess cherry pie at each
visit.I'm sure it was to keep me
occupied while mama was getting her hair cut, but because it was a special
treat I thought a Hostess cherry pie and a Dr. Pepper were the grandest thing
outside of Christmas. I also have memories
of spending time at my aunt and uncle's house which was a loud, hoppin' place
because of their six kids, five of which were all older than me.There was always something going on there,
and I loved being there. It was very
exciting compared to our house.It was extremely
exciting the day aunt Betty's pressure cooker blew up, spewing food to the
ceiling and sending us kids diving under the kitchen table. There was also the day I choked on a peppermint
candy and aunt Betty picked me up by the leg, turned me upside down and swatted
that piece of candy out of my mouth and across the room.I'm not sure, but I think I saw a bright
light right before she smacked my back.Or maybe it was after.All I know
is I owe my life to her quick thinking.

We drove by their old house Friday while we were killing
time before the rehearsal, only to find that it had been torn down.That made me sad.I haven't been there in 43 years, but I guess
I just hated to see a memory disappear.We also drove down Main Street, where the heart of the downtown area
is.Across the railroad tracks at 720
Oak Street was our old apartment building.It looked the same, really.They've painted it beige and added an awning.The yard in the back looks the same, and the
upstairs balcony where mama took my picture with my birthday cake was still
intact. It all looked like it did during the big winter storm where daddy had to shovel a path from that balcony because our front door was blocked by the snow.

We drove all over town and throughout parts of Kankakee all
weekend as we attended all of the wedding festivities.We discovered that parts of that area have
grown quite a bit.Some things have
changed, much to Daddy's surprise since he couldn't remember how to get around
as well as he thought he would.About
thirty minutes after our arrival Friday, I started punching stuff into the GPS
instead of relying on his memory.OR
Hubby's internal compass.The man has a
severe distrust of the GPS which gets us into all kinds of trouble and makes my
head spin.Like in the hour before the
wedding when we were racing across town to get to the church and they wanted to
try some shortcut.If I don't get into
heaven it's likely because of the thoughts I was having during that drive.Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned.

It was good to see the old stomping grounds after 43
years.And it was good to visit the
little spots around Manteno that hold fleeting memories from my five year old
self.If we had had more time, we would
have seen more and visited more with family.As it was, we had a great fast weekend that created new memories.The wedding was beautiful.The bride was gorgeous, and everyone involved
just felt darn good after seeing such a wonderful young woman marry the man of
her dreams.

I didn't take a picture of our old apartment building.I just had this unexplained reluctance to get
out of the car and snap a picture, which is so unlike me.It didn't occur to me until the ride home
that perhaps I just wanted to remember it the way it was back then.Back when Mama and Daddy had the incredible
nerve to just pull up stakes and set up housekeeping in a brand new place hours
away from home in the course of 24 hours.With a hungry baby in tow.When I
asked Mama Friday how she felt about that she just said matter of fact like
that they didn't have a choice.They
just did what they had to do.And they
managed to do it with the help of family.Some of those 23,618 family members that are scattered from one end of
Illinois to another.Like the Rockefellers,
but without the money.

Monday, October 15, 2012

I haven't blogged in quite a while.I've been incredibly busy, and I had to
prioritize the things I needed to do and let fall by the wayside some things I
simply like to do.Like blogging.And laundry.And cleaning those pesky baseboards.

I also needed to take a break from it to find out how I feel
about it these days.Kind of like breaking
up with your seventh grade boyfriend just to see if you miss sitting beside him
at lunch every day.Do I still like
blogging, circle yes or no.

I started blogging four years ago to have an outlet for all
of those things that roll around in my head.It was also a way to develop the habit of writing every day, which is an
important thing to do if you ever plan to write a book.Which I do.Someday, after nursing old folks and putting my child through college, I
plan to take out that folder of notes I've been saving and bring to life those
characters floating around in my head.I
have already named them and given them certain traits.I even know how I want at least one of them
to develop.The manuscript doesn't have
to get published.I just want to bring a
dream to life.

But someday is not tomorrow or the day after, and in the
meantime, the routine of writing daily without some kind of conclusion in sight
was becoming a bit of a grind.And in
the meantime, life holds other joys I want to fully explore, like photography.Truthfully, I was finding it harder and
harder to blog regularly.So I took a
little break.And I've come to the
decision that I don't know how much longer I will continue to blog.It will certainly be less regular than it has
in the past. I am not going to feel
committed to writing every day.

It's a part of an overall effort to take some control over
the "busy-ness" in my life and make my family and my serenity a
priority.I am purposefully shedding
some responsibilities in all areas of my life.I am saying "no", and I mean it.I roll off my committee assignments at church
at the end of the year, and I've asked to be taken off a civic board a year
early, in January.I've been on that
board for five years, and it's time for someone else to step up. That means I will hold no volunteer
leadership positions for the next year.For twelve months, I will do what a lot of other folks do, I will simply
show up and enjoy the fruits of someone else's leadership and labor.I will help Hubby take care of his dad, I
will nurture Teen Angel into adulthood and I will enjoy some free time.And I won't feel guilty about it.

I will blog from time to time, but only when I feel like
it.I will post as the mood hits me, and
I will use some of the time I've gained to savor some "me" time.
"Me" meaning family.I may
actually watch a little television--if Dish Network quits breaking up with
channels I love.I will read more, and I
will definitely take more pictures.I
hope you will continue to join me.I
have missed you, my blogging friends.